Steve Holmes wrote:This is great stuff Mark, thanks for sharing. Re the ex-Jane car, I thought I read somewhere this car was built using special lightweight body panels punched out of thinner guage steel. Is this right, or am I completely off the mark?
Your car looks stunning! You've done an amazing job with it. Did Rogers race it again following its NZ races? I know the Toranas could continue on into the early part of 1980 in Group C, though with several performance sapping changes required. What was the cars history between Rogers and yourself?
Following his very fast Escort Sports Sedan you mentioned, Rogers also raced the ex-Pete Geoghegan Monaro Sports Sedan at the same time he ran the Torana in Group C. Interestingly, Rogers raced an HQ Monaro just briefly in Group Nc/Touring Car Masters. I wonder if this was because he had fond memories of his old Geoghegan car?
This is what I have found out so far, after the three NZ races Garry raced his group c car in two sports sedan meetings, they were:
1/ Amaroo Park on the 6/4/1980
The race report in Racing Car News even makes reference to Garry running his touring car.
Race 1: a 5 lapper he finished 3rd
Race 2 a 10 lapper going up the hill on lap 4 the engine let go
2/ Sandown 12/4/1980
There were two 13 lap races and whilst Garry was mentioned in the race report there are no details as to his qualifying or finishing positions.
These race meeting were before Gary got his dedicated Torana sports sedan which was the ex- Rex Monaghan hatchback. The group c car was sold in the second half of 1980 to David Langman of Meldourne. My log book shows David as doing two race meetings at Calder Park on the 9/11/1980 and the 14/3/1981. I have found two small race reports but there is no mention of anyone other than the front runners.
I have also found a video on youtube
http://youtu.be/vQNz_vNl-kE where David is racing what I am sure is my car an all red hatchback No4 (David painted it red after he bought it off Garry). There is another red hatchback with blue and white stripes on the roof, this is David’s old car a hemi 6 powered sports sedan. David sold the group c car in March/April 1981 after which it saw limited use as a road car.
I bought the car in early 1990 and ran mostly hillclimbs and super sprints but in 1995 I got my provisional race licence and ran it in a group c demo event at Amaroo Park on the 4/6/95. In the last 6 or 7 years the only outings it has been to is display/demo at Muscle Car Masters and Torana Fest at Newcastle.(I need to get it out more and have some fun with it)
[quote="Steve Holmes"]This is great stuff Mark, thanks for sharing. Re the ex-Jane car, I thought I read somewhere this car was built using special lightweight body panels punched out of thinner guage steel. Is this right, or am I completely off the mark?
Your car looks stunning! You've done an amazing job with it. Did Rogers race it again following its NZ races? I know the Toranas could continue on into the early part of 1980 in Group C, though with several performance sapping changes required. What was the cars history between Rogers and yourself?
Following his very fast Escort Sports Sedan you mentioned, Rogers also raced the ex-Pete Geoghegan Monaro Sports Sedan at the same time he ran the Torana in Group C. Interestingly, Rogers raced an HQ Monaro just briefly in Group Nc/Touring Car Masters. I wonder if this was because he had fond memories of his old Geoghegan car?[/quote]
This is what I have found out so far, after the three NZ races Garry raced his group c car in two sports sedan meetings, they were:
1/ Amaroo Park on the 6/4/1980
The race report in Racing Car News even makes reference to Garry running his touring car.
Race 1: a 5 lapper he finished 3rd
Race 2 a 10 lapper going up the hill on lap 4 the engine let go
2/ Sandown 12/4/1980
There were two 13 lap races and whilst Garry was mentioned in the race report there are no details as to his qualifying or finishing positions.
These race meeting were before Gary got his dedicated Torana sports sedan which was the ex- Rex Monaghan hatchback. The group c car was sold in the second half of 1980 to David Langman of Meldourne. My log book shows David as doing two race meetings at Calder Park on the 9/11/1980 and the 14/3/1981. I have found two small race reports but there is no mention of anyone other than the front runners.
I have also found a video on youtube [url]http://youtu.be/vQNz_vNl-kE[/url] where David is racing what I am sure is my car an all red hatchback No4 (David painted it red after he bought it off Garry). There is another red hatchback with blue and white stripes on the roof, this is David’s old car a hemi 6 powered sports sedan. David sold the group c car in March/April 1981 after which it saw limited use as a road car.
I bought the car in early 1990 and ran mostly hillclimbs and super sprints but in 1995 I got my provisional race licence and ran it in a group c demo event at Amaroo Park on the 4/6/95. In the last 6 or 7 years the only outings it has been to is display/demo at Muscle Car Masters and Torana Fest at Newcastle.(I need to get it out more and have some fun with it)